Mortal Danger (Page 28)
His eyes burned with an intensity that stole my breath, locked on mine so I couldn’t look away. “Show me how clever you are. Guess.”
Before I could, the waitress brought our food and Kian served. After eating only salad and yogurt for lunch, I was starving. I ate a few bites of the chicken while I pondered.
“You wanted her to fall for you, probably so you could shoot her down.”
“Spot on. After my last request kicked in, she became completely obsessed with me. Stalked me, in fact. I had to take out a restraining order.”
“What happened to her?” I asked.
His expression was flat and dark, completely unreadable. “She killed herself.”
A gasp slid out of me, and I nearly dropped my fork. “Jesus, Kian. That’s taking payback way too far.”
He flinched. “I didn’t mean for that to happen. I just wanted her to know what it felt like to be rejected. They didn’t tell me until later, but in my best timeline, I was supposed to be with her. The opposition interfered, drove her over the edge.”
“That’s horrible.” It dawned on me how dangerous this deal was. So many factors I hadn’t calculated before making the agreement. Quietly I stared at the marks on my wrists. No going back now.
“I know.” He paused, unsure whether he should continue. “When she died, I lost my potential as a catalyst. That’s why I work for the company now.”
“You say ‘work’ but that’s not the impression I get.”
Kian swallowed hard. I guessed I’d trespassed into forbidden territory. His boss likely wouldn’t be happy, no matter what he said. So I was surprised when he pulled a pen and notebook out of his pocket, then scribbled an answer. With his watch under the table, he nudged it toward me and ate some chicken parm with his other hand.
Aloud, he said, “It’s not so bad.”
Yeah, that’s the company line. I nibbled at my food while skimming the reality of his response. My life’s not my own. Indenture might be the right word, except that means having the chance at freedom someday. I don’t. I belong to Wedderburn. Shock and sorrow cascaded through me. I might’ve suspected that was the case, but seeing the desolate look in his green eyes as he finished his pasta tightened my chest until I couldn’t breathe.
I struggled to keep the conversation going, casting back to a different point. “Wait, what’s a catalyst?”
“You’re one. It’s somebody destined for great things.”
“And who gets offered a deal. But … what opposition?” I seized on that like a lifeline. There were so many mysteries that I couldn’t decide what I needed to know most—or what might get in him in trouble, if Wedderburn was listening.
A flicker of his eyes told me his boss wouldn’t like him focusing on the downside of this arrangement. He was supposed to be wooing me, not scaring me. “It’s complicated.”
But I couldn’t help asking. “What I’m extrapolating is that I could be in danger?”
“That’s why I told you not to trust anyone but me. The competition might contact you, just to screw with your head.”
Damn. Apparently, when I’d worried that the deal seemed good to be true, I was on target. Yet if I hadn’t, my parents would’ve claimed my body from the morgue, and I wouldn’t even be here. So the complications and risks were better than the alternative.
“Because…?”
“If they shift the equilibrium enough, your fate changes and you cease to be a factor in play. If that happens, you lose value as an asset, and Wedderburn puts you to work.”
I thought about that. “So … whatever you were supposed to accomplish, it’s not happening, because this girl died?”
He nodded.
“And you’re trapped because you have no way to repay the favors. That could happen to me, huh?”
“It could,” he admitted. “There’s no way to be sure what events are pivotal in your personal timeline. You’ve heard about the butterfly effect?”
“I’ve read about chaos theory, and I probably qualify as a strange attractor.” It was a weak joke at best, but my heart caught at his smile. “I think I see where you’re going with this. Basically, there’s no way to be sure I’ll retain my worth as a catalyst.”
“I’m sorry, Edie. I wish I could guarantee your safety.” He closed his eyes for a few seconds, as if bracing for intense pain.
I immediately wanted that look off his face. “Hey, it’s okay. At least you’re honest.”
Or is he? There was no way for me to verify any of this … unless …
“What’s your last name?” I hated myself a little for asking.
“Riley. Do you intend to check me out?”
“Do you blame me? Your story might be sympathy bait.”
“I don’t. Feel free to look it up. You can use my phone if yours doesn’t have Internet. The scandal with my dad was pretty well publicized.”
Mentally I did the math as I took his cell. If he was twenty, it would’ve all happened nine years back. So I specified the date in the search bar, along with “Riley Ponzi scheme” and the phone spat back a bunch of links. I picked one at random and read a summary of what he’d just told me.
“Is your mom all right?”
“She’s in and out of programs, they never stick. She misses being a socialite but she doesn’t have the money to support the lifestyle. So she goes back to using to cope.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Don’t be. Working for Wedderburn, Mawer & Graf has its perks.” Judging by the sardonic twist of his mouth, this was more verbal propaganda.
So I played along. “Like what?”
“The house in Colorado. And they don’t mind if I take college classes as long as I keep up with my workload.”
“Which right now is only me.”
I thought about the cabin he’d brought me to, back at the start of the summer. At least they paid well for him to afford a place with a view like that. He was pretty young to own property, and his favors had only included the car, not wealth.
“True. Lucky me.” He was smiling, but I wondered how far I could trust him.
Kian might be playing a long game, building rapport for reasons that would become clear only after he sprang the trap. After all, that was what I planned to do with the Teflon crew, so I couldn’t believe the warmth I saw reflected in his green eyes. On one hand, he had saved my life, but a girl was dead because of him. Though I wanted to, I couldn’t trust him.